Impaired Driving Cases - Overview
Impaired driving offences are serious matters due to the potential for, and reality of physical harm and death. Those who are accused of impaired driving are so often members of our society who do not have criminal records, working people on whom families rely, and those who need to drive to get to work. The Criminal Code of Canada's mandatory minimum sentences for impaired driving offences leave much less room for negotiation with the Crown than charges for which there are no mandatory minimum sentences.
Police have a broad authority to investigate drivers. A traffic investigation can turn up indicia of impairment that can lead to a criminal investigation. Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act gives police officers the power to stop a driver of a vehicle by signal or request, where the officer acts in the lawful execution of duties and responsibilities, and is readily identifiable as a police officer. There is case law on impermissible reasons for a roadside stop.
Defendants in impaired driving matters, more often than in some other kinds of cases, must look for opportunities to exclude evidence at trial. Potential trial issues can be based on case law that delineates from the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, traditional defences, and medical/toxicology or other potential expert evidence. Parliament and the courts have in recent decades circumscribed the defences that are available in impaired driving matters, in an ongoing effort to balance the need to address the social ill of impaired driving with our desire to maintain our society as a free one.
Notwithstanding those efforts, a broad range of issues can arise in an impaired driving matter. The degree to which any particular issue may apply in a particular case depends on the particular series of events, officers' notes, police vehicle multimedia recordings, recordings at the police booking hall and breath test room, audio recordings of any calls to 911, and the client's memory of events. A lawyer who practices criminal defence law, and impaired driving law in particular, will be best positioned to advise you about the availability and strength of triable issues in your case.
Adel Afzal
Barrister and Solicitor
September 18, 2024
